Nigeria on its way out of recession – Presidency

Nigeria on its way out of recession – Presidency

The federal government has said there are indications that the country’s economy is on its way out of recession.

In a statement released by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Adeyemi Dipeolu, he said the optimism was based on the overall economic performance in 2016 and last quarter Gross Domestic Product reports.

A review of the recent GDP figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed a contraction of -1.30 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016, translating into an estimated economic growth rate of -1.51 per cent for the full year.

Dipeolu stated that with the ongoing engagement of the oil-producing Niger Delta communities, the Buhari administration was hopeful there will be increased oil production.

He said: “The recently released data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by -1.30% in the fourth quarter of 2016. This translated into an estimated growth rate of -1.51% for the full year 2016. These figures reflect the slow-down in the economy for most of 2016 but also show that the recession may have bottomed out because of an improving trend in several key sectors.

“Although the oil sector declined by -12.38% on a year on year basis, this was a relative improvement compared to the third quarter when the decline amounted to -22.01%. This outcome was due mainly to increases in production such that the quarter on quarter growth for the oil sector between the third and fourth quarters was 8.07%.

“The non-oil sector however declined by 0.33% after showing some resilience in the third quarter when it grew by 0.03% at the height of the recession.

“Agriculture grew at 4.03% in the fourth quarter of 2016 which was a marginal decrease from the 4.54% growth in the third quarter. This is mainly because agriculture (especially crop production, which accounts for the bulk of agricultural production) is highly seasonal, with growth in the third quarter of the year usually higher than the others. Nevertheless, the overall outcome for the year was that the agricultural sector grew by 4.11% for the whole of 2016 which was higher than the figure of 3.72% for 2015,” he added.